Infinix Note 5 First Impressions and Hands-on Review

The infinix Note 5 is the latest smart phone offering from the infinix brand. Although a note 5 stylus (as against being called pro) is said to be in the pipeline, that’s not officially out yet. At least, not in Nigeria.

I finally got my hands on a unit to test run and publish a full review. Pending when the full review of The Note 5 becomes available, I thought I’d share my first impressions and Hands-on review.

This is to give you an insight of what to expect pending when the infinix Note 5 review is out. That should be out in a couple of days from now. I’m pretty pumped up for that as well.

Just before we head on to the first impressions and Hands-on review, how about a sneak peek to the phone Key specifications and features?

Having cleared the key specs out-of-the-way, let’s dive into the device itself.

Infinix Note 5 First Impressions and Hands-on Review

For this hands-on review, we are basically going to be looking at the design feel, display experience and the user interface.

Performance, camera and every other vital areas will be talked on during the course of the full review. Hence, you should also look out for that.

So first, let’s look at the design.

Design

Infinix did well with the design on this device. You get that same curved back with glossy finishing as seen on the Infinix Note 4 released last year.

If you are wondering if the design is plastic or metal, it’s actually plastic. A bit of a turn off in 2018 but for the price it’s being sold for, that’s totally fine.

Unlike the infinix Note 4 which houses the fingerprint reader in the home button compartment which frankly, felt better, the note 5 has its fingerprint reader placed at the back.

The right side of the device houses the Sim tray, volume buttons as well as the power button.

The left side houses no component. Surprisingly, there is no component on the top of the device while the button houses the loud-speaker, the charging port, microphone and the 3.5mm jack.

I sort-of have an issue with the placements here. That, I will be talking on, in the full review.

The design element feels really nice. Except for the fact that, courtesy of the glossy finishing, for the most part, the phone would have to get familiarized with every of your outfit. In layman’s term, it is a fingerprint magnet. Of course, this may not be the case if you choose to throw in a casing.

Away from the design, let’s look at the infinix Note 5 display.

Display

Compared to the note 4, there is definitely something to look out for in the screen department.

First, there is still the 2.5D arc display.

However, the major difference here asides the resolution, is the 18.9 infinity screen. Similar to what we have on Samsung flagships.

The 18.9 infinity screen sure adds some level of stylishness to the display experience. This, I am a fan of.

When it comes to resolution, you get a FHD+ resolution. By that, I am making reference to 2160 by 1080 pixels with 403 PPI. That way, you get a crispy looking display.

OS / User Interface

Perhaps the major highlight of the device, is the Android one experience. The infinix Note 5 isn’t the first Android phone in Nigeria.

The Android one OS ensures you are getting the stock Android experience and not infinix’s own XOS. The device ships with Android 8 Oreo out of the box and with Android one being in the mix, it is sure to receive Android P update when it becomes available.